The present invention is directed to a marking and counting probe and preferably, to a marking and counting probe which can use highlighter pens or similar marking implements to both mark or write on construction plans, prints, papers, documents and other surfaces and count items on such construction plans, prints, papers, documents and other surfaces.
There are many applications where a person desires to both write, highlight or otherwise mark a paper, plan or document and count items on the paper, plan or document. Building construction is one field in which a user frequently desires to mark and/or write on a document and also count items on the document. In building construction, the contractor typically marks and/or writes on a plan or blueprint and counts items, such as electrical outlets, on a plan or blueprint to estimate a job for bidding.
Currently, there are ball point counting pens in use which have a switch that is activated when the counting pen contacts the surface of a plan, blueprint, paper or other document to complete an electrical circuit and send a signal which registers a count on a counter. However, the counting pen activates the switch on every contact so that the counting pen can not be used for marking or writing on a document without activating the switch. Thus, currently, the counting pen is used to count items on a plan or other document and a separate pen or other marking implement is used to mark or write on the document without effecting a count.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,380, issued Aug. 15, 1995, is directed to a marking and counting probe which solved this problem of the prior art by permitting the same marking implement, e.g. a conventional highlighter pen, to be used for marking and writing on a document without effecting a count and for marking and writing on a document while effecting a count. While the marking and counting probe of the '380 patent works very well, there has still been a need to further improve such probes.